In My Kitchen: September/October 2013

As good as it was to be off on another adventure it is so very good to be back in my own kitchen and eating veggies on a regular basis. I contemplated doing a collage of the food we ate while we were away but there is just too much of it… I’m not even kidding.

In the meantime here are a few things from before we left, things that made up our traveling kitchen while we were away, and some recent bits and pieces too. Linking up of course with Celia’s October In My Kitchen post.

Before we left…

After a mammoth August IMK post there wasn’t too much left to talk about, but a glass cake cover turned upside down into a little dish makes for the perfect fruit bowl for end of winter oranges. Terribly crafty, aren’t I?

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This cocktail set* was a cute goodie bag inclusion from the Samsung Sparkling Refrigerator launch event. I had to giggle at everyone who went crazy at the pics of sparkling water dispensing from a fridge door, but it was pretty cool.

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Saying that I was head-down-bum-up during the last few weeks we were home (and the first few weeks of our trip) to get Truly Malaysian done and dusted is an understatement!

In a massive effort to style and photograph 11 dishes in roughly 5 hours of daylight Jackie came and played prep chef in my kitchen.

RJ now loves saying things like “You know that chicken curry Jackie cooked in our kitchen? I want that for dinner.” Cheeky bugger.

The e-mag app was finally finished somewhere in early September (New Orleans perhaps?) and submitted to the iTunes store!

Up up and away…

After eating–our–way–around–LA for 36 hours or so we headed to Cape Cod to spend time with my extended family.

My aunt’s cottage on the Cape is the perfect beach house and the open kitchen did a wonderful job at juggling roughly 20 adults and 6 toddlers for almost a week.

(we were however spread across three different houses for sleeping purposes!)

Amongst other things there was lots and lots of watermelon. I do love summer.

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An adult cousins night out led us to a pub somewhere close by — what is important about this pub was not just the Pumpkin Beer but the fact that the edge of the glass holding the Pumpkin Beer was rimmed with cinnamon sugar. Yeah, that.

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Next stop was Mom’s farm in Western NY, at harvest time nonetheless.

Grapes were heavy on the vines…

and pears were heavy on the trees.

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There was lots of time spent in mom’s kitchen — such a sweet space. Note my takeover of the island for a makeshift office. That orange bucket? Filled with grapes of course.

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I had a few things waiting when we arrived and among them where these lovely blue vintage-style jars from Ball Canning*.

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Mom and I went antiquing one day, as you do, and of course I returned with a few lovely bits and pieces that were then toted along in my carry-on for the remainder of the trip (what?! yep, really).

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Sooooo, this is what happens when you are out in the vineyard and the thumb rest falls off your camera and gets lost in the grass. Enter pear leaf. Yet another reason to get the new camera I want…

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Next stop was NYC but both of us had been struck down by an evil cold… lemon and plastic knife from the corner store, honey from a coffee shop, chilli flakes from a pizza joint to cure the lurgy.

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That plastic knife sure came in handy to work through our goodies from the Union Square Green Market but more on that later!

I’ll definitely cover the Kimber Modern in more detail later on, but look at this kitchen and common area — swoon.

The breakfast included some of the best fruit I’ve eaten in ages, perfect for lining the stomach prior to tacos and bbq and all sorts of other waistline expanding food. It was pretty much constant eating to tell the truth.

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A trip to Austin isn’t complete without a stop at the headquarters of Wholefoods, and a stop at Wholefoods isn’t complete without at least a couple samples…

Love Bean Fudge is made by an Austin local and is simply perfect chocolate and coconut spread.

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While we didn’t get any fudge I did come away with a bottle of Buddhas Brew Kombucha. I’m a perpetual ingredient reader and all the other kombuchas had sugar (or honey, or agave) added for sweetness — really??

This one is another local Austin product, has no added sweeteners after fermentation, and was stunningly good.

I think I need to try my hand at making Kombucha but it kind of scares me…

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When one drives across the middle of Texas to get to New Mexico and one passes a stand in the middle of nowhere proclaiming ‘PEACHES!’ one must stop and buy said peaches.

They were possibly the best peaches I’ve ever eaten.

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When we finally reached Santa Fe all I wanted was waffles… It took a couple days but these blue corn waffles with pecans at the Santa Fe Baking Co where simply perfect in every way. They will be appearing in my kitchen often.

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Home again home again jiggity jig

Phew! So we managed to pick up a few souvenirs on the way and not surprisingly most involve food and are therefore now in my kitchen.

My fave Tazo Green Ginger, some Green Zen (green and mint) and very minty Refresh Mint. Plus a box of Chocolate Mate that I became obsessed with at Cape Cod after pilfering the kitchen of another aunt.

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Finally the prize pint from The White Horse pub in Austin — we collect pint glasses everywhere we go and this is one of the best in recent years.

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When I got home there was a little present from Williams Sonoma waiting for me. The pan* is part of the signature range and it is fully clad — not just the base — so the heat distribution is fantastic. Also, it’s really pretty and shiny.

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I love that the goodie bag from the Australian Mushroom Growers lunch included a jar of mushrooms* — lunch fixings and a prop, woohoo!

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I ended up coming home from the Bean Supreme lunch with a full set of their products*. Most of them have soy which I don’t tend to eat but the soy-free koftas are a great thing to have on hand for fridge surprise lunches and the mushroom burgers are a good alternative for barbeques if you don’t have time to make your own.

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There is a good chance we have been home for almost two weeks and are yet to shop for little other than bananas and milk and lettuce, ahem, but we did stop at Salt Meats Cheese last weekend and stocked up on a few salts. The jars are recycled from vanilla paste for those keeping score.

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I went to a Think Act Change meetup event during the week and after hearing all about this small batch passata decided I had to buy a bottle to bring home. I’ve yet to open it but can’t wait.

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I laughed out loud when I opened the package with this Kenko Matcha Green Tea* — they had seen my Instagram pic of the tea from our trip and the comment that I was told I couldn’t buy any more.

Gotta love a company that not only pays attention but has a sense of humour too. Well done Kenko, well done.

JJ, what wonders you always have in your posts! I especially loved the blue jars – did you bring them home, or did they stay in your mum’s kitchen? And thanks for the headsup on the e-mag – I’ve bought and downloaded it! It looks fabulous, what a great job both you and Jackie have done on it! 🙂

OH MY GOD! A FRIDGE THAT DISPENSES SPARKLING WATER? AMAZEBALLS!!!! Yep, I’m one of those. Although, the hefty pricetag does make me love my little soda stream that little bit more. The folding shelves and the serving drawer thing though (yes, I went to the website and watched the video… don’t judge me!!)? Genius! I also must buy all the roadside fruit that we drive past. Drives my husband nuts 🙂

What an incredible post JJ. This is actually my first visit to your blog after following a link from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial… what a treat!! Your recipes are amazing and this ‘in my kitchen’ post is so rich, varied and beautiful. Envious of your flea market/thrift shop finds. Glad that you had a beautiful, albeit massive and hungry, trip!! xxx

G’day and what an awesome post JJ! TRUE!
Love your mum’s kitchen, your cookie cutters, and LOVE antiquing as you never know WHAT you will find and thank you for this month’s kitchen view!
Cheers! Joanne
Viewed as part of IMK

I’ve spotted lots of things in there that make me even more keen to get to the US next year. Last time I went, I also came back with lots of cookies cutter but I’m loving that chilli cutter – I’ll have to look out for one. Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for the round up.